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Common Name(s): Shellbark Hickory Scientific Name: Carya laciniosa Distribution: Eastern United States Tree Size: 100-130 ft (30-40 m) tall, 1-2 ft (.3-.6 m) trunk diameter Average Dried Weight: 48 lbs/ft3 (770 kg/m3) Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .62, .77 Janka Hardness: 1,810 lbf (8,100 N) Modulus of Rupture: 18,100 lbf/in2 (124.8 MPa) Elastic Modulus: 1,890,000 lbf/in2 (13.03 GPa) Crushing Strength: 8,000 lbf/in2 (55.2 MPa) Shrinkage: Radial: 7.6%, Tangential: 12.6%, Volumetric: 19.2%, T/R Ratio: 1.7 |
Color/Appearance: Heartwood tends to be light to medium brown, with a reddish hue; sapwood is a paler yellowish brown. Boards with contrasting heartwood and sapwood create a somewhat rustic appearance that’s sometimes marketed as Calico Hickory.
Grain/Texture: Grain is usually straight, though occasionally wavy, with a medium texture. Pores are medium-sized and open.
Rot Resistance: Considered to be non-durable to perishable regarding heartwood decay, and also very susceptible to insect attack.
Workability: Difficult to work, with tearout being common during machining operations if cutting edges are not kept sharp; the wood tends to blunt cutting edges. Glues, stains, and finishes well. Responds well to steam bending.
Odor: No characteristic odor.
Allergies/Toxicity: Besides the standard health risks associated with any type of wood dust, no further health reactions have been associated with Shellbark Hickory. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.
Pricing/Availability: Various species of Hickory and Pecan (Carya genus) are typically mixed together and simply sold as Hickory. Prices are usually in the low to mid range, depending upon local availability. Hickory prices should compare similarly to other utility hardwoods such as Red Oak or Soft Maple.
Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices or on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Common Uses: Tool handles, ladder rungs, wheel spokes, flooring, etc.
Comments: Hickory is among the hardest and strongest of woods native to the United States. On average, Hickory is denser, stiffer, and harder than either White Oak or Hard Maple. The wood is commonly used where strength or shock-resistance is important.
Shellbark Hickory falls into the True-Hickory grouping, and is considered to be a ring-porous wood. The strength characteristics of Hickory are influenced considerably by the spacing of its growth rings. In general, wood from faster-growing trees, with wider spaced growth rings, tends to be harder, heavier, and stronger than wood from slower-growing trees that have rings which are closer together.
In addition to strength and hardness applications, the wood of Carya species also has a very high thermal energy content when burned, and is sometimes used as fuelwood for wood stoves. Additionally, Hickory is also used as charcoal in cooking meat, with the smoke imparting additional flavor to the food.
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Greetings Eric and thank you for the useful website. I was wondering if you could help me identify the wood in the images attached. I am leaning towards shellbark hickory, what do you think?
Thank you,
Peter
Superficially this resembles black walnut, but I can’t tell for sure. I can’t make out any banded parenchyma, such as are usually evident in hickory, but that could be due to the dimness of the endgrain shot. Does this wood seem especially hard?
Definitely not walnut. The scent is completely different. Very hard wood.
If it smells like hickory, most likely it’s hickory… Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to separate hickories by species, so the most precise you or I can get is the distinction between pecans and true-hickories. And to get there, we need to analyze the reticulate parenchyma (grid of parenchyma lines and rays) on the endgrain. While your endgrain picture is nice and clear, the endgrain isn’t sanded fine enough (and the pic isn’t at a high enough magnification) to see any parenchyma. The ring-porous nature of the wood is consistent with true-hickories though.
Good afternoon.
Please tell me if there is any confusion between
Shellbark hickory and Shagbark hickory?
In Wikipedia, Shellbark hickory is Carya laciniosa, and Shagbark hickory is Carya ovata.
Not the other way around like You.
Here are the links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carya_laciniosa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carya_ovata
Is there a mistake here?
I don’t see the error, can you be more specific where you see the mistake on the website?
i was given a piece of 2” x 6”’x 12” and will try to make cooking utensils out of it.